I have been out for a week, and therefore have had more time for reading, which I have loved. The following titles show what I have read or am still reading:

1. Eye of the Whale by Douglas Carlton Abrams…..have finished this remarkable novel based on a fiction writer’s look into a marine scientist’s study of what we  human beings are doing to ruin our oceans with pollutants. The fast-moving thrilling pace of this novel caused me to read it in 24 hours! Being a gardener and a creature lover, I am so very aware of pesticides and their harmful effects on our planet. To learn how our genetic codes are changing for both men and women, as seen in the bodies of the beautiful humpback whales, caused me great concern and alarm for my children and their children. WE ALL have got to wake up and take a stand! This novel is off the beaten track and could be missed, and would have been missed by me if I had not heard the author and the scientist reviewed on public radio.  John agreed to order some for the store, and now I can readily recommend it to readers! Character development and  thrilling action move this fiction right along while the reader simultaneously learns of alarming scientific facts. You will fall in love with “Apollo”, the serene humpback whale who unfortunately swims under the Golden Gate bridge singing his alarming song, “w-OP w_OP, EEh-EEh-EEh” which deciphered means “Danger for our young”!

2. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer….. am loving it, absolutely loving it. Reading it on the heels of  The Glass Room makes it even more of a joy due to the  shared European setting prior to WWII. Valerie, Liz, and Toni at Random House are right: this is a treasure! I’m only half way through and will be sad when it is over, I’m sure. It grabbed me by the second chapter and has had me reading way into the wee hours of the night.

3. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano ( an unusually refreshingly different novel…..I liked what Kelly said about it in her blog a couple of weeks ago….I am glad I finished it!)

4. Tinkers by Paul Harding – a deliberately slow, beautiful 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner….reminds me of Marilyn Robinson’s Gilead. I had to put it down for a while, but now am back into it.  Though very mesmerizingly slow on action, it is rich on language. Check out this one sentence for purity of prose: Howard thought of angels, but the image he had of the seraphim, with their long blond curls and flowing white robes and golden halos, did not fit with the more frightening, dark, powerful species he conjured, which would gorge on and delight in what, when ingested by him, instead of sating, instantly burst the seams of his thin body. Now you see why the Pulitzer is well deserved!

5. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick ….am about half way through this one and am liking the fast paced language. I have been trying to get to it since it was published last year, but once it came in the store in paperback, I had to check it out for a possible book club selection. I think it will be the August pick– at least the first half makes me think so. The setting reminds me of Gil Adamson’s Outlander. I had perused The End of the World as We Know It, a non-fiction bestseller, last year, by the same author as The Reliable Wife and am always amazed when an author can turn from non-fiction to fiction successfully.

6.  Anthill by E. O. Wilson … am only a little ways into this novel about ants and a Huck Finn type character, but I think it is a good Southern fiction read so far.  It’s written by a Harvard biologist originally from Alabama, a prolific non-fiction author who won the Pulitizer  for a scientific book on ants.

7. The Hole We’re In by Gabrielle Zevin …. am only a chapter or two into it, but this contemporary fiction moves with agility  and excellent character development, exploring the collective rat-race we are all in! I’m liking the comfortable easy narrative language.

I’ll check back in when I finish some of these, especially The Invisible Bridge!

…….Happy Summer Reading.  -Nan

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